NEWS107
39
ot all turtlespossess a solidarmor of
horny plates.Thus the softshell turt-
les,forexample,with30species in the fresh
waters of Asia,Africa, andNorthAmerica,
have a soft leather-like armor.All species
are predominantly carnivorous and very
predatory.Inaddition theyareusuallyvery
snappy,andhence theyaren'tverypopular
in the terrariumhobby as their intolerant
behavior usually makes it necessary to
keep themsingly.Moreover themajorityof
speciesgrowvery large (more than30 cm
shell length) and require correspondingly
largeaquaria.Butneverthelessonespecies
turnsup regularly in thepet trade,namely
the Chinese Softshell Turtle,
Pelodiscus si-
nensis
(formerly
Trionyxsinensis
).
Small and tasty
In India huge softshell turtles are kept in
templepondsand fedby the faithful.These
specimensarevery tameandalso tolerant
of one another.They include, for example,
the species
Aspideretes
(formerly
Trionyx
)
nigricans,whichgrows tomore than90cm
longand is actually regardedas extinct in
the wild. Unfortunately, however, this
peaceful state of affairs is amajor excep-
tionamong the softshell turtles.
Theyarepersecutedeverywhereand their
meat eaten,and inaddition their eggs are
dugup - likewise for food.Hencenowadays
manyspeciesare regardedasseriouslyen-
dangered. But let us be quite clear about
one thing: the trade in live specimens for
terrarium and aquariummaintenancehas
nodetectable effect onwildpopulations,
as thedemand is far too small. Inaddition
N
Atpresentasoftshell turtlespecieswhoseyoungexhibitabright redcolo-
rationon theirunderside is increasinglyavailable in thepet trade.Thisdis-
appearswithageand is replacedbyawhitecolor.Theseyoungstersare ju-
venilesof theChineseSoftshell Turtle,a speciesnow found inmanyparts
of theworldbecauseof itspopularityas food.
Recognizableby its red
belly
byChristophFritz,www.reptilia24.com
Turtles
ChineseSoftshellTurtlesareverygood swimmers.
All photos:FrankSchäfer
the softshell turtle speciesdiscussedhere,
namely theChinese Softshell Turtle, is far-
medcommercially.Withacarapace length
of 12 to 20, rarely up to 25 cm, it is oneof
the smallest of all the softshell turtle spe-
cies.This species too is eaten invast num-
bers, but it is readily bred in aquaculture
and the demand is satisfied by farmed
stocks.Its importanceasa foodstuffamong
Americans of Chinese origin canbemea-
suredby the fact that from the early 19th
century to the outbreak of the Second
WorldWar the specieswasbredonHawaii
and inMarylandand feral populations still
occur there today.Further populations at-
tributable to introductionbyManexiston
Guam,inwidepartsofSouth-EastAsia,and
inJapan.Apopulation inSpainsupposedly
derives from released terrariumspecimens,
but thereareapparentlystillnoself-sustai-
ningpopulations in France,Great Britain,
andMadagascar,although the specieshas
occasionallybeen recorded there.Because
of these introductions theoriginaldistribu-
tion isnotveryeasy to reconstruct,but it is
thought that
Pelodiscus sinensis
originally
occurred in south-eastern Russia, eastern
China,Korea,Taiwan,andNorthVietnam.
Almost inGermany too
As long ago as 1913 experiments were
conducted InGermany, in Bavaria, to see
whether these turtlescouldbeacclimated
Lexicon
ChineseSoftshellTurtles
Trionyxmeans "threeclaws"
Pelodiscusmeans "muddisk"
sinensismeans "Chinese".
